PRAYER: CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PERFECT MAN (2)
[p. 18] PRAYER: CHARACTERISTIC OF THE PERFECT MAN (2)
JT What came before us in chapter 5 may be connected with the exercises of the individual, who sees the need that exists, and learns that the flesh profits nothing in meeting it, so that he turns to God and finds the power of God available. But then it needs more than one. No true lover of the Lord Jesus wishes to arrogate to himself all the service, either locally or generally. He sees that the service involves variety, so I think the Lord, in chapter 6, brings before us this feature — that you look for others to be used. You see the need is so extensive that it requires more than one. Hence the Lord’s extended prayer, as it says, “all night”. He went out into the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God, and “when it was day he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles”. Elsewhere he enjoins that they were to pray the Lord of the harvest to send out labourers, because the need was so great; and I believe the Lord would, at the present time, lay it upon us that the need is great, and that labourers should be sent out. It is the Lord who sends them out, of course; but He would send them out in answer to our desires.
EBMcC In connection with the chapter this morning you were pointing out that the scribes and teachers of the law were with the Lord, and the power was there to heal them. I suppose they would set forth man characterised by the flesh endeavouring to carry on the service of God. Now He spends all night in prayer in order that He might send out whom He would.
JT The miracle in the synagogue preceding this prepares the way for it. “There was a man there”, it says, “and his right hand was withered”. Luke 6:6. However much intelligence one may have, if his right hand is withered he can do nothing. The right hand denotes a man’s ability or power, so that it would suggest what there is in the synagogue — what there is in the religious world. As it says, “Looking round about upon them all, he said unto the man, Stretch forth thy hand. And he did so; and his hand was restored whole as the other”, (Luke 6:10). There you have the preparation for the prayer; one’s right hand restored indicates his ability for service. There may be many who have ability for service — the Lord has given it to them; but the next thing is that He should dispose of that.
JCS Do you think the disciples who had been with Him up to this time had had, so to speak, their right hands restored? That is, their hands were really being prepared in view of service, and now the Lord spends a whole night in prayer to God in view of that selection.
JT That is it. There are many who have ability, but the next thing is they should come under the Lord’s direction.
Rem Would you say that such conditions can be met only by prayer — “He continued all night in prayer”?
JT We shall be in each other’s way, unless we come under the Lord’s direction.
EBMcC The hand would then be at the Lord’s disposal.
JT That is it. All your power or ability for service is held now for the Lord, and He disposes of it; otherwise we shall be in each other’s way. He makes the selection.
JCS So that the Lord in that way recognises the existing ability.
JT He recognises the ability that there [p. 20] is. It is seen here in the man’s withered hand being restored. It is to be used, but then how used? Therefore it says, “God has set certain in the assembly”. 1 Corinthians 12:28. God has done it. We have to look to the Lord for the disposal of the ability there is, that it should be used to the best possible advantage. It can be used thus only as He disposes of it. The matter was so serious that He spent all night in prayer. This is the only instance in which we have the Lord spending all night in prayer. It says, “He went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God”. We have often spoken of long prayers as inimical to liberty in the assembly. I believe they should be short in the assembly, but this passage shows you can make them as long as a whole night individually. No one could spend his nights to better advantage, especially if sleepless nights, than in prayer.
SF I would suggest, too, that this dispensation should be marked by prayer; it is the dispensation of God, which is in faith, and so prayer should be constantly going up to God, showing dependence upon Him.
JT I think that is what is emphasised in Luke.
JCS One is impressed with the way in which the Lord Jesus depends absolutely on heaven in connection with. His selection. That is — one hardly likes to say it — but it almost suggests that He wants to trust entirely to heaven for the selection.
JT You may be assured that it is set down here not only to show how entirely dependent He was, but that we should be dependent. It is all very well to say that such a brother has gift, and preaches beautifully, but you want to see him disposed of so that he is available to the best advantage to the saints. He has to come under the Lord’s direction if he is to continue to be profitable, and hence we must bring him to the Lord.
[p. 21] Rem Would you say continuing all night in prayer to God involves a knowledge of God? I think of how little some of us can sustain prayer in that way.
JT We lack an extended view. Our outlook is very narrow. As we think of the Lord’s service the whole field should be before us. It says, He bought the field; and He has a right-of-way in it in that He has bought it. So that the whole field is before one if interested in this way, and you can easily spend a night, if you are disposed to, in going over the field, touching on the different points in which active work is proceeding.
Rem I thought if we knew more of priesthood we should be able to pray more in the way that is true of the priest; he had the saints on his heart. Perhaps it would depend on how much we have the saints on our hearts. I had in mind to refer to the thought of the right hand in Ecclesiastes. It says, “A wise man’s heart is at his right hand”. Ecclesiastes 10:2.
JT This gospel has priesthood in view.
Ques Is there another thought connected with the mountain? Would that give a good view of the field?
JT You are withdrawn from the influences of the plain; but it is in view of coming back into the plain, as the passage states. If you are to be with God you must be withdrawn from the influence of the plain. Moses was with Jehovah on the mountain, Aaron was with the people. Hence the great difference between them. Aaron was employed by the people in making an idol; whereas Moses, as with God, was able to come in and destroy the idol, and make the people drink of the water.
MPM It states later, “having descended with them he stood on a level place” (verse 17); that would be the contrast.
JCS You were speaking of the vastness of the field, and how the Lord would enlist our interests in it, that we might pray sympathetically and intelligently [p. 22] in regard to all that He has under His eye to do. Thus, as you say, we would bring the servants to the Lord for the disposal of them; and if He disposes of them there will be no overlapping.
Ques How do we bring them? Is it assemblies that bring them, or those who are exercised?
JT We all should be concerned, and so we shall pray individually and collectively.
EBMcC Do you think the prayer that the Lord may send forth labourers into the harvest always holds good?
JT I am sure it does; and I think the Lord would impress it upon us now. The need is great.
RJW Is it not interesting that in the next chapter He sends out the very ones whose hearts He set in the line of prayer? He works through their hearts.
JT You see Saul; he corresponds with chapter 3, as we had it this morning, as becoming identified with the people of God; he is praying. But then, as with the disciples in Damascus, he begins to preach. There is nothing about a commission as yet. I mean, there is nothing said as to his being told to preach in Damascus, but he did preach. In this way he corresponds to chapter 5. He sees the need, and, as he tells us later, he went into Arabia. Arabia would correspond with the desert in Luke 5. The desert was the place for the practical annulment of the flesh in him. We find he is sought out by Barnabas, who saw the need. He was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit. He represents one who would unjealously think of the needs of the saints, and that they should be met by others as well as by himself. So, knowing of the conditions at Antioch, he goes and seeks out Saul. Doubtless he had prayed about it; he brings him to Antioch, as if he felt that he was a brother who would be used at Antioch. He and Saul laboured together at Antioch for a year, and yet there is no [p. 23] commission. Barnabas sees the need, and he gets Saul. Then the call comes: “Separate me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them”, Acts 13:2. I believe that as we look around and see the ability there is, and bring it to the Lord, we shall have a disposition of it such as will be effective in the maintenance of the ministry and in meeting the need of the saints.
Ques Do you make a difference between the call of the servants and sending them forth by the Spirit as in Acts 13?
JT Yes. The call in the apostle’s case was earlier; he had to wait for his direct commission.
EBMcC Your thought is that Barnabas recognises the ability that was with Saul — that he had been prepared for the service?
JT I think he corresponds with the man whose right hand is healed. Now he is available for the disposition of the Lord or of the Spirit.
Ques Do you think the synagogue is purely local, whereas the Lord has the world before Him? Saul preached in the synagogues.
JT That is good, because levitical service is never restricted to a locality. The Levites were round about the tabernacle. The other tribes had special locations allotted to them at a distance — east, west, north and south, but the Levites were round about the tabernacle. Their service is general — it is universal.
JR Do you suggest that the multitude come into blessing on account of the Lord spending all night in prayer, and afterwards calling to Himself His disciples whom He names apostles?
JT Quite. You see, He calls them out according to the wisdom that would flow from prayer. Of course He was Himself Wisdom, but here He is dependent, and He is a pattern. He is praying to God all night, and so He names them, as it says,
“[p. 24] When it was day he called his disciples, and having chosen out twelve from them, whom also he named apostles”. He names them in the order in which He intended them to serve. Peter comes first; that is a question of choice.
LDB If things are held by one person only — one servant — they remain within restricted limits, whereas the number is increased here to twelve — the sphere of divine operations is extended.
JT That is what comes out. Then He comes down with them. It says, “having descended with them, He stood on a level place”. Now He has, so to say, twelve right hands under His own direction, and then He comes down with them to the level place. They are safe, as coming down to the level place as appointed, and thus accompanied by the Lord.
JCS So you think the Lord indicates here, in the order of the names, that He is arranging their service. They are to serve in that connection; that is, it is not left for them to arrange for themselves.
JT I think He has indicated their work in the order of the names. In Luke it appears the reading should be as it is in the Authorised Version, the conjunction between each name. They are not set out in twos, as in Matthew.
LDB What is the thought in that, that they are severally mentioned?
JT I think it is that each one is to take up his own service in relation to the Lord.
EBMcC These were men of ability for service.
JT Quite. Luke has in mind the whole dispensation under Paul’s ministry, and the suggestion is that those who serve are selected severally. I receive my work from the Lord directly, and carry it out without consulting another. Of course we are not to be independent of each other.
JCS That is, to your own master you stand or fall; that [p. 25] is the principle.
JT Yes.
MPM Service is thus individual, but not independent.
JT No, not independent; but each has to get his direction from the Lord, and carry it out.
JCS So that the Lord did not allow Peter to interfere with what John was doing, as you pointed out.
JT That helps. “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou me”. John 21:22: Peter had his work laid out for him, and it was for him to do it. The Lord had His reserve in John, and He would maintain the secret.
LDB I suppose our prayers should be in accord with what the Lord has done. In praying for the Lord’s servants one would pray that what He has given to His servants might be developed; that each might correspond with the name that has been given to him.
JCS I suppose there was development in the twelve. The Lord names each one, as you have remarked elsewhere, but development has taken place morally before it is officially recognised.
JT Yes; the withered hand restored points to the ability for service which they had.
JCS I think you wanted to call our attention to the fact that it is open to us individually to take these matters up with God in prayer so that the whole field of His operations might be of interest to us, that we might pray to the Lord for an increase on these lines.
JT That is what comes out in this chapter, and it should enter into our prayer meetings as well as our individual prayers, because the field is one. In moving about one hears prayers, and one notices the limitations that appear. How narrow our field often is! Of course it is right that we should pray for our immediate locality, but a priest has all on his heart.
[p. 26] The High Priest had the names of all, and Aaron’s sons would obviously have the opportunity of reading the breastplate as they were with their father. So the nearer we are to the Lord the wider will be our view of the field. He would bring the whole field before us. One would be as much concerned about South Africa as he would be about New Zealand, because it is all the Lord’s field. The saints are all alike in that they are all in the breastplate, and every son of Aaron would be concerned as to all the tribes. It is very interesting to see that in the book of Judges, in the darkest period, when Benjamin was about to be almost wiped out, it is said that Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, was priest, and stood before the ark in those days. What an immense advantage it was for Israel to have a priest like that. At that time, in the darkest day, he would be greatly concerned about Benjamin, for his name was in the breastplate. It had its place as much as Reuben’s or Ephraim’s. So that the more we understand priesthood the more we should be in prayer for the whole field of the Lord’s interest.
SF As you have remarked, through the death of Christ He has made a right-of-way into every part. So that where there is just a little garden, or cluster of saints, that locality is of personal interest to Christ.
JT That is what I was thinking; and how easily one may be of service. After the assemblies had been formed, Paul proposed to Barnabas to visit the cities where they had preached the word to see the brethren — to see how they had got on. He and Silas went and visited their brethren, but there is nothing said about teaching or preaching; there is nothing said about the exercise of gift at all in that journey. It was a question of seeing their countenances. “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend”. Proverbs 27:17. Hence the visit of a spiritual brother or sister to a locality has an effect,
[p. 27] and the service is brought within the range of all. There is not a word said of the exercise of gift in the missionary journey of Paul with Silas until new ground was reached at Philippi. It was more that Paul’s presence amongst them encouraged them. It says, “The assemblies, therefore, were confirmed in the faith, and increased in number every day”, Acts 16:5.
SF When the Lord Jesus moved in and out among His disciples He would leave a deep impression on them, even apart from His words.
Ques You drew our attention to verse 17 (Luke 6): “Having descended with them, he stood on a level place”. Could you help us a little on that?
JT The “level place” means that in carrying the glad tidings to men you would get down to where they are. Paul says, “To all I have become all things”. 1 Corinthians 9:22. In order to reach souls we have to get to where they are.
EBMcC Giving the apostles names was His sovereign choice, but now He could come down with them to the level where men are.
JT And He can identify Himself with them now before men. They are His qualified representatives.
JCS Do you think He is, in principle, doing now to them what heaven had recently done in regard to Himself?
JT Just so; and it raises the question whether the Lord can really be with me in my service here. “He came down with them”. Can the Lord stand beside me in my service? If He cannot, there is something that is inconsistent with Him.
EBMcC It takes some of us so long to be healed. We are not qualified for service.
JT And many of us are mixed up with associations the Lord cannot approve of; thus He cannot be with us; He cannot identify Himself with us save [p. 28] as we are in correspondence with Him in our principles and ways.
JRF Before entering on the level place with Him we must be on the mountain with Him, and then we can maintain what is suitable to the levitical position on the level place.
JT So coming down is the idea in the gospel.
JR In connection with your thought about where men are — do not the multitude come under His influence?
JT Quite. You see how it was carried out in Paul, in coming into Antioch of Pisidia, for example. He entered into the synagogue and sat down. He was, as it were, a Jew in the synagogue, but Christ was in his heart. Think of what was in that man’s heart as he sat there, ostensibly an ordinary Jew! Presently they invite him to speak. He acts wisely. He, as it were, was on the plain; and now he is invited to speak, and he speaks the word. When he came to Thessalonica, he entered in among them as if he were one of them, and for three Sabbath days he reasoned with them out of the Scriptures. We learn from these things how to carry on service for the Lord.
R T. What was your thought in Paul and Silas visiting the saints; was it on the line of house to house?
JT No doubt they would go from house to house. They visited the cities where assemblies had been formed.
JCS Paul knew well how to take these things up. No matter what the circumstances were, he knew how to adapt himself to them in divine power.
JT So at Athens he goes about the city and takes note of things, and he saw their shrines. In order to serve God among men we have to take account of what is going on amongst them. His spirit was painfully excited in him in seeing how the city was [p. 29] wholly given up to idolatry. He read the inscriptions on the altars, and so forth. He said, “I found also an altar on which was inscribed, To the unknown God”, Acts 17:23. There is instruction for us in seeking to serve men. We have to take account of what they are going on with, because in that way you learn what they need, and how they are to be delivered. He identifies himself with them as a man; to the Jews he became a Jew, and to the Greeks he was a man, or one of the race. So he says, “In him we live, and move, and have our being”. “He is not far from each one of us”. Acts 17:27,28.
Ques Does the level place suggest that the Jew is now on no better footing than the Gentile?
JT No. He was recognised at the outset as the “Jew first”, but after the apostle Paul visited Rome I think the position is changed. It says, “The salvation of God is sent unto the Gentiles, and they will hear it”. Acts 28:28.
EBMcC So we would find much room if we were in the right state to be used.
JT The need is unspeakable. The Lord is saying, as it were, ‘Whom shall we send?’ In answer to this, it is a question of what ability there may be. The Lord will dispose of it if it is available. The idea of a Levite is that he is given to the priests — to Aaron and his sons — for service. They are to be for the Lord’s disposition.
WJP You do not confine that to ministers, do you?
JT No; it is for every saint.
LDB In chapter 9 the Lord inquires, “Who do the crowds say that I am?” This was as He prayed.
JT I think that in chapter 9 in connection with the prayer we have just read, we have what follows on constructively with the appointment of the ministers. That is, in serving we need to be assured as to the Person of Christ. We need to be well grounded [p. 30] in the knowledge of who He is, because the erroneous thoughts that are abroad are dreadful; and, obviously, the Lord praying alone has in view that we should know who He is; not only who He is officially, because that is indicated in chapter 6, but who He is personally.
EBMcC If He is with us in the plain we must be assured as to who He is.
JT This question that is raised in chapter 9 is of immense importance now, because of the wicked doctrines that are promulgated in Christendom about the Lord Jesus. If we would serve aright we must be very clear in our souls who He is; and I think His praying alone would be in view of this.
JCS What do you mean by ‘knowing Him personally’?
JT It says here, “And it came to pass, as he was alone praying, his disciples were with him; and he asked them, saying, Whom say the people that I am? They answering said, John the baptist; but some say, Elias; and others say, that one of the old prophets is risen again. He said unto them, But whom say ye that I am? Peter answering said, The Christ of God” (verses 18 - 20). He had the light.
Ques Is that light got from personal intercourse with the Lord?
JT I think it is. In this gospel there is nothing said about a revelation in this connection. I think Peter had discovered it. No doubt it refers to the revelation he had. According to Matthew it is not so presented. There the Father made a revelation to Peter. But here it is as if Peter said, ‘You are the anointed vessel for God’s service of grace — the Christ of God’.
JCS Would it be a just inference, since Luke so constantly presents Him to us in that praying attitude, that Peter picks up who He is largely through His prayers; that as He is alone praying he gets to [p. 31] know who He is personally through seeing His intercourse with God?
JT Well, I think that is a just inference.
DB It was not information about facts with Peter; it was personal acquaintance with Him.
JT The evidence that He was the Anointed of God was there. Things were done according to God. Peter says to Cornelius, that God “anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power”. Acts 10:38.
MPM It says later, “As he prayed, the fashion of his countenance became different”. Luke 9:29. The disciples would take account of that.
JCS I notice, too, in Luke, where the sower operates, the “seed” is the word of God.
JT Yes, Luke presents God — God in grace; and God has now One who is anointed to set out His grace. That is what Peter says. In Mark it is “The Christ” — the One who does everything; but here it is “The Christ of God”. That God has One who does everything, and does it according to His mind.
WJP In John 6:68 Peter says, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life”.
JT His confession is in keeping with John’s gospel. He had “words of eternal life”. It is not that He had simply spoken them, but He had them; and He was the Holy One of God. Here He is “the Christ of God”.
SF He was a man here in ordinary daily circumstances, moving absolutely for God’s pleasure. All His consideration was that way, and through doing so He met perfectly whatever came before Him. Would you agree with that?
JT Just so; and now the apostles are to know this. He would bring out from them the confession of who He was.
Rem It says they were with Him as He was “praying alone”. In chapter 6 He descended with them to the level [p. 32] place.
JT They are with Him; seeing Him “praying alone” would give them an apprehension of what He was with God. John says, “We have contemplated His glory, a glory as of an only-begotten with a Father”. John 1:14. They would see that; they contemplated Him. In Luke He is with the servants, who had been serving very successfully, and in successful service we are apt to get our eyes turned on ourselves; hence this question, “Whom say ye that I am?” If He is the One who is doing everything for God, the little I am doing is not of much account. I am just a vessel or instrument for His use.
AHR So we get here God’s Anointed.
JT Yes; and the servants, however successful, are to have this before them. He is doing the work.
JCS So that the next time they stretched forth the right hand in service they would be in the sense of who He is.
JT That is just the point. They had been successful; but now they were to understand that the work was really His work — it was He who was doing it.
JCS Sometimes we are hindered by allowing our service to assume too great proportions in our minds. It becomes everything to us, and we really lose sight of the fact that it is Christ who should be everything to us.
JT That is the thing to get hold of.
DB Would ability to feed the crowd indicate who He was?
JT I think so. Peter had doubtless acquired the knowledge of who He was through observing what He was doing.
WJP You remarked that it was necessary to have an impression at the prayer meeting before you preached the gospel. Is this the way to acquire confidence as to addressing God?
JT No one should attempt to address men [p. 33] who has not first addressed God, because you acquire your power there.
AHR With regard to the servants, are there not two sides — one being occupied with service, and the other being timid owing to lack of faith, and thus not being able to take up service?
JT That was the case with Timothy. He was timid. He had to rekindle the gift that was in him. Many have ability, and are not using it.
FH The thing to recognise is that the Lord has a claim upon us. In restoring the man’s hand the Lord was establishing His claim for the service of that hand. He that has power to restore the hand has power to direct it in service.
JT And then in the service there is sure to be success if the Lord is supporting you; but the danger in successful service is to be so occupied as to accredit yourself with it. Paul speaks of the things that Christ had wrought by him. What he had done was Christ’s work. He says, “From Jerusalem, and in a circuit round to Illyricum, I have fully preached the glad tidings of the Christ”, Romans 15:19. Who had preached? It was Christ; as he says, “Since ye seek a proof of Christ speaking in me”. 2 Corinthians 13:3. It was Christ, and that is what makes ministry so serious. If it is taken up as presented in Scripture the minister represents Christ. Paul further says, “Coming, he has preached the glad tidings of peace to you who were afar off, and the glad tidings of peace to those who were nigh”, Ephesians 2:17.
JCS One’s service would be on the line of distinguishing Christ; it would be as of one anointed.
Rem So it is easy to detect true ministry; it calls attention to Him.
JT It does. The hearers are impressed; it has come from God.
RJW In chapter 9, when He handed back the child, they wondered at the glorious greatness of [p. 34] God, and in the case of the demoniac, they confessed how great things God had done.
JT We can see how the Lord “praying alone” impressed those with Him. Peter confessed Him “The Christ of God”.
LDB The praying would emphasise that He — the Anointed One — was drawing upon God.
Ques Would “The Christ of God” indicate the dignity of the service?
JT I think it does. Think of what we are connected with, even at this present time! It is the work of the Lord. The Christ of God is carrying it on; He is doing it. We are all more or less instrumental, but it is His doing; and anyone who receives benefit receives it from the Christ of God. God is the Source of all blessings, and Christ is Mediator; but He is the Anointed Mediator, and all blessing comes to us in that way.
JCS If we see that the Lord is really behind the servants, and He is working through them, it takes away any feeling of rivalry.
JT It conveys the sense of dignity. We are dealing with very great things. However restricted outwardly, it is no less than the work of the Christ. The anointing is on it, and the anointing involves moral weight and distinction.
EBMcC It would imply assembly formation, and headship would be known.